


What You’ll Sorely Miss

by LiterallyThePresident



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast), The Penumbra Podcast, Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, It’s primarily Jupeter, Triwizard Tournament, the other relationships are kinda background
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 18:24:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18783667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterallyThePresident/pseuds/LiterallyThePresident
Summary: Peter Nureyev enters the tournament on a whim. He did Not expect to be selected





	What You’ll Sorely Miss

Peter had entered his name into the triwizard cup because he lost a bet. He hadn’t expected to be selected. He hadn’t _wanted_ to be selected. He didn’t like the spotlight, spotlight meant attention, spotlight meant people knowing his face, spotlight meant far too many uncomfortable things for Peter to even _consider_ taking part in this monumental tournament. So he was going to go to the Headmaster and explain all of this. He would withdraw and someone else could deal with the challenges and attention and all that nonsense.

There was just one teensy problem. And that teensy problem was a 5’4 hufflepuff with a mean streak the size of a Hungarian horntail. 

“You seriously gonna back out?” Juno Steel snorted, “Come on. You gambled and lost, if you were that desperate not to compete then you shouldn’t have put your name in the damned cup.”

Juno Steel was... a lot. Juno Steel was muggleborn. Juno Steel was a beater for the hufflepuff quidditch team. Juno Steel was cantankerous and snide. Juno Steel had scars on top of scars, marring his knuckles, his face, the rest of that dark skin he kept hidden from view. Juno Steel knew curses he shouldn’t and flinched when people yelled but always yelled back just as loud. Juno Steel gave hufflepuff a bad name. And Peter Nureyev, by all means a respectable slytherin prefect, was currently nursing an enormous infatuation with him. Juno Steel was a beautiful goblin man, a reclusive, misanthropic, smoke-scented mystery that Peter wanted so desperately to solve.

“Well.” Peter sighed, giving in all too easily to Juno yet again, “Perhaps when I win this tournament, the lady will reward me with a kiss?” He batted his eyelashes at Juno like a princess, and Juno snorted again. 

“How about you win first and then we’ll talk, huh?”

—-

Fighting a fucking dragon was not in Peter’s plethora of skills. Stealing, sneaking, charming, that was stuff he could do in his sleep. The stealing part of this challenge he could normally handle, if not for the fact that dragons could not be seduced (no matter how much Rita and Cecil insisted otherwise)

The dragon roared, hatred in its eyes. He was dead, he was dead, he was dead-

“Fuck that lizard the fuck up!” Juno shouted from the stands.

-he could do this. He could do this! Juno was watching. Juno was watching and rooting for him and waving a slytherin flag for him despite the dirty looks from his fellow hufflepuffs. He could do this. What was a dragon compared to letting Juno down, to looking anything but his best in front of Juno?

The answer was child’s play. That dragon didn’t stand a chance. Seduction may not be an option, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t charm it with a siren song spell of his own devising. He took a deep breath and cast his spell, charming that dragon within an inch of it’s life. By the time Peter was done with it, it was practically handing over the egg. And the crowds went wild.

This triumph was different from the triumph of a heist pulled off. This triumph was loud and pounding and pulsing in time with his heart, roaring with the crowd and spinning dizzily. He felt... euphoric. He understood quidditch players now. If only for a moment, he understood the thrill of having everyone cheering your name.

Even Juno was whistling loudly at him, a gorgeous smile on his face.

—

“So the egg opened in the bath?” Juno asked, popping another chocolate frog in his mouth.

“Yes. It was quite a surprise.” Peter said, inhaling the fresh air of the Hogwarts courtyard and stealing a frog from Juno, “Significantly better than the shrieking, however.”

“I can imagine.” he snorted as the Durmstrang champion, Alana Maxwell, and her weird friends walked past. She’d figured out the egg long before anyone else had, and her buddies weren’t letting anyone forget it. Peter didn’t mind. She was an intelligent woman, he had no qualms in admitting he admired her. Even if her near-obsession with alchemy and the creation of life put him off a little. Peter waved to her, and then turned to make a quip at Juno, but the man spoke before he could.

“Ugh. Professor incoming.” Peter glanced over his shoulder, and sure enough Professor Sprout was coming their way, looking pinched yet resigned. 

“Mr. Steel.” Sprout looked tense as she reached them, “The Headmaster wishes to speak with you.” Juno rolled his eyes, getting up with clear annoyance and handing the rest of his candies off to Peter.

“What now?” he sighed, but the professor didn’t chide his attitude this time around. That was... unusual.

“You best speak to him about it.” she said, guiding him back inside with a hand on his shoulder. Peter’s eyes narrowed, cataloguing the stiffness of her shoulders, the line in her brow, the way she kept glancing at Juno as if he were a lost kitten wandering towards the whomping willow. Peter didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit, but his attention was unwillingly snatched by Rita’s loud arrival as she careened into his arms babbling about her latest crush. 

—-

The lake looked absolutely freezing. If the morning air was this miserably chilly, Peter didn’t want to imagine what the water would feel like. He was cold, nervous, worried, and to top it all off, he hadn’t seen Juno at all since Sprout had led him away yesterday. His absence stung, the upset outweighed only by worry that something had happened. But the professors had made it clear that he would not be forgoing this challenge. So he had acquiesced. And when they gave the signal to dive, he quickly cast his gill charm and dove.

The Beauxbatons champion, a timid young man named Martin Blackwood, had given both he and Maxwell a nervous smile and wished them luck before they started. Peter had waved and wished it right back. He liked Blackwood. The man was an utter delight, and he made wonderful tea. Although he didn’t appear to be the strongest swimmer, he was giving a valiant effort, and Peter gave him a thumbs up before darting ahead of both champions, smooth and sleek like a sea lion. He’d always been a natural swimmer. He only wished Juno could see him now.

He made straight for the mermaid village, figuring that it was the most likely place for his goal to be. He followed the way he knew, fighting off the occasional grindylow or six, until he reached the village. It was... well, frankly, it was hideous. But the fact that the merfolk didn’t attack him on sight proved that he’d been correct in his deductions. He swam towards where the merfolk seemed to be directing him, until he caught sight of a large statue at the center of the village. He swam towards it eagerly, twirling a little to show off.

He stopped short with a sharp inhale when he finally saw what he’d come for.

People. There were people chained to the statue by the ankle, drifting in the water like corpses in the wispy current. Peter counted three; a girl he recognized as Hera Pryce from gryffindor, a thin, bookish-looking man in a Durmstrang uniform, and-

_ “Juno!”  _

Peter swam as fast as he could, heart pounding and eyes wide. Juno was still, drifting lifelessly in the water like Ophelia made flesh. His curls waved like seaweed, his skin pale as ash, a thin stream of bubbles flowing from those perfect lips. Peter’s hands hovered over his face, and he distantly noted that they were shaking. 

“Juno? Juno, can you hear me? Juno?” Had he been here all night? Had he been forced into this unnatural sleep and chained at the bottom of a freezing lake since yesterday? Peter’s mind raced with possibilities and horrible imaginings, a spark of rage flaring in his heart. Those  _bastards._ Those filthy, heartless, despicable  _bastards_. How _dare_ they? When he found out who had given the order to take Juno, to _hurt_ him, he would cruciatus them within an inch of their lives. He’d hex them into oblivion, sever the hands that touched Juno, slice the-

_We’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss_

Oh god, he was in love with Juno Steel.

Oh  _god_. He was in _love_ with  _Juno Steel_. The revelation would have taken his breath away were he not currently underwater. As it was, he compartmentalized it into his nice little box in the dark corner of his mind to panic about later. Juno was still unconscious, that thin line of bubbles still flowing. Peter tore the chain with more force than was strictly necessary, slipping an arm around Juno’s waist and rocketing towards the surface as fast as he physically could. The moment they broke the surface, Juno gasped for air. The sound was sweeter than music to Peter, who held him close and cradled his face, scanning for injury with wide eyes.

“Juno, are you alright?” he asked, their lips a hair’s breadth apart, “Are you hurt? How did they subdue you? Did Dumbledore do this? I swear, I’ll kill them if they laid a  _finger_ -“

“Christ, who cast the babbling hex on you?” Juno cut him off, pissed and grouchy and so  _Juno_ it set Peter a little more at ease, though he still trembled with fury, “Can we hurry this up, I’m cold and wet and annoyed.”

“Of course.” Peter chuckled, drawing him flush against him and starting for the docks, using the time to get his anger under control and focus on Juno, “Let’s get you wrapped in a blanket with a steaming mug of hot chocolate, hm?” Juno only grumbled in response, waving away the crowd of people who tried to help them out of the water. Peter watched fondly as Rita crushed Juno to her with a loud wail, tears and snot streaming down her face as she blubbered into his shoulder. Blackwood broke the surface next, clutching the Durmstrang man close and letting his bubble charm pop so he could bombard the poor man with apologies and reassurances in a manner similar to how Peter had likely looked. He chuckled at the thought, and the final champion surfaced with a gasp and a curse, a trembling Hera cradled securely in her arms. 

Peter had come in first place. Juno, from his place faceplanted into Peter’s shoulder, mumbled something about not letting it go to his head.

___

“They took me.” Juno said, eyes dark and simmering with... something. Peter found himself fighting the urge to swallow, wishing Juno hadn’t backed him into an alcove between bookshelves, impossible to squeeze by him. 

“Yes, they did.” he nodded calmly, “Juno, is there a reason you’re being so enigmatic?”

“Out of everyone.” Juno continued, eyes glimmering in the candlelight, pensive and searching, “Out of all your friends and acquaintances, out of Buddy and Rita and Jet, they decided that _I_ was the  one you’d miss the most.”

“I can’t pretend to understand why or how they chose-“

“Nureyev.” Juno cut him off, looking frustrated and... something else, “Stay away from me.”

Peter’s heart broke into a thousand tiny little pieces, tearing into his lungs and crushing the breath from his body. His voice let nothing show, “If that’s what you want.”

“It is.” Juno said, casting his eyes to the floor, and oh Peter missed the burn of them, “I’m not someone you should be getting attached to.”

“Juno, what on earth are you talking about?” Peter asked, “You’re delightful.”

“People around me die.” he said flatly, “That’s a hard fact. And if you died too... I‘m not sure I’d be able to handle that.”

“Juno.” Peter tilted his chin up, forcing those beautiful eyes to meet his, “If you say the word, I will never speak to you again. I will never interact with you again. As far as you’d be concerned, I’d be gone from your life forever.”

“That’s-“

“But that wouldn’t mean you’d be free of me.” Peter continued, sincerity in every word, “Unfortunately you have me in a bit of a bind. Your well being means far too much to me for me to just ignore you. I would stay out of your way, but I’d watch and guard you from the shadows. Nothing and no one would hurt you even if you wanted them to. Especially if you wanted them to.”

“Nureyev...” Juno exhaled sharply, “You always gotta be a stubborn jackass, don’t you?”

“Pot and kettle, my dear.” Peter cradled his face in his hands, frowning slightly at the way Juno stiffened, “Are you alright?”

“...Yeah.” Juno wet his lips, “I just... I think I need time to...” 

“Of course.” Peter gave him a soft smile, “It’s high time we get to sleep anyhow. Would you like me to walk you to your common room?” 

“I think I can make it alright on my own.” a brief upturn of his lips and Peter was a goner, “Catch you later, Nureyev.”

“Farewell, Juno.” he smiled, “Good night.” He hated to see Juno leave, but he loved watching him go. Perhaps after the final challenge, he’d take his darling Juno out to Hogsmeade for a day. Spoil the grumpy lady until he either relaxed or ran away. Either way, Peter Nureyev would take care of Juno Steel until the man realized how important he was, how indispensable.

After all, he was one man that Peter would sorely miss. 

**Author's Note:**

> I didn’t wrote the maze because I didn’t feel like it. In the end, Alana actually won. Peter came in second, and Martin came in last. I am most definitely gonna be writing more of this au at some point


End file.
